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Posts Tagged ‘Wiki’

Earlier I mentioned I had purchased a pair of books and commented on the first, Tagging. I have finely got round to reading the second, Wikipatterns. This is proving just as interesting and if you are at all interested in Wikis I whole heartedly suggest reading it. At the very least check out the accompany website. So what’s got me all excited? There are a whole bunch of case studies demonstrating the different things a wiki can be used for and how various organisations have gone about rolling it out. This links to the core of the book which is concerned with those things that discourage and encourage people/groups etc, to take up wikis. These are not only interesting from the perspective of wiki deployment but some can also be applied to the more general deployment of new applications.

For example a simple pattern suggested to encourage wiki use is the Intentional Error. By putting errors within wiki content it encourages people to edit the wiki. This starts to break down the reservations and fears people have about participating.

So why is this relevant to us? I think there’s two points I want two make here. First we are also, either within Streamline or other projects; trying to engage people in a new technology, so some of the patterns may be of use. Secondly and I think more importantly, the idea of patterns itself is a neat why of passing on experience to others. During the development of a use case for Stuarts scenarios I suggested that that was a good foundation for developing guidelines as a project output.. Maybe we can produce patterns for LO and repository uptake. This would also be useful for PERSoNA and the Repository projects.

I have been playing with del.icio.us for the last few days as part of looking into personal space applications. I am particularly interested in the social tagging aspect and the way people describe things, so I started with myself. Starting with my favourites list I uploaded them and began the process of tagging. Having never done this process before, I was surprised to find that I did use several labels for one item. I thought that my years of folder hierarchies might have dulled my imagination. I was fairly exited by this.

I also looked at the tags used by other people for some of the URL’s I had tagged. For example a link to Learning object metadata – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – I had tagged as e-learning, education, elearning, learningobjects metadata lom scorm all of which were in the most common tag cloud. Others had tagged this under standards, RDF, data, learning, semweb and xml. Some I agree with, others like RDF, data and leaning I don’t.

This was all very interesting but what I want to know now is will I use the site to access my URLs. I browsed the web for a bit, all research relatedJ and added some good links that I didn’t include in my browser favourites. Lets see if I go back to them. Do you use del.icio.us? How do you use it? How often do you use it? How would you tag the URL above?

Unfortunately, access is by subscription only. However the following will give readers an insight into the relevance of this report. (All remaining text below, provided by The Observatory)

Following the general report abstract and author listing, Dr. Don Olcott, Jr., Chief Executive of The Observatory, provides a commentary on this report’s relevance to cross-border higher education.Social Software for Learning:What is it,why use it?

The recent, and undeniably massive, growth in adoption of various social software applications represents both an opportunity and a threat to institutions and educators: opportunity because the qualities which help these applications thrive align well with socio-constructivist and other contemporary theories of learning which have resonated strongly with online educators and learners and sparked massive interest and growth in adoption; threat in part because they are often developed and adopted by learners outside the bounds of their formal relationships with institutions, and in part because they depend on network characteristics that can be in tension with the more ‘closed’ environments and online approaches found within most institutions. In many ways, social software represents a key manifestation of borderless education in that it has typically been developed on the general Internet, not within academic enclaves nor for specifically educational purposes, and often thrives best when the full dynamics of the entire network (e.g. linkability, searchability, network effects) are in play.Initially, this report compares some of the qualities that cause social software to flourish with contemporary ideas about what enables successful learning in a networked world. Following an examination of uses of specific social software applications to support learning, it subsequently discusses how these key characteristics create both challenges for adopting institutions and considerations for adopters and implementers of social software that can help them harness them to best advantage in creating more authentic engagement for lifelong learners.

Commentary

As you read Leslie and Landon’s report, you will become familiar with a range of social software applications such as social bookmarking, blogging, social networking, wikis, social media sharing, and even shared concept and knowledge maps. The authors suggest the obvious . . . that these forms ofsoftware are social in nature, that they are often developed and used outside the boundaries of institutions and formal learning environments; that theytap into the user’s motivation and helpbuild authentic online identities and learning experiences for users; that such applicationsbuild networks of affinity and enable connected knowledge to emerge; and finally that social software encourages peer production and review of content. You will have to judge the merits of these assertions about social software and their applications to teaching and learning in your university. What is known for certain is that social software applications have increasingly been adopted by users and are gaining more interest amongsteducators in all sectors. Adoption of social software, however, is not synonymous with the effective delivery and assessment of quality teaching and learning. The jury is still out on this fundamental question, one which challenges all educators when assessing educational technologies. Here are some key questions to consider in the cross-border context.

Key Questions for Social Software Applications in Cross-Border Higher Education

Do social software applications have potential for enhancing teaching and learning in cross-border higher education? How and why? Why not?

Does social software facilitate multi-cultural learning, cultural and social understanding,and language(s) practice and training for studentsin host countries(and for international students onhome campuses)?

Social software effectiveness, to some degree, is predicated onthe scalability to serve increasing numberof users.Given the programmatic and targeted focus of many cross-border higher education partnerships, it is financially sound to invest in social software applications for a limited user population?

How do we assess and evaluate user learning engaged withsocial software networks or applications?

Can social software facilitate the creation of a new, international knowledge base?

What quality standards could or shouldbe applied to educational uses of social software? Whoshould have oversight and/orresponsibility for these standards? The institution? A quality assurance agency?

Can social software play a role in facilitating cross-border research exchanges and partnerships?

What are the key ethical and legal issues associated with social software?

A Challenge to Software Developers: Cultural Software for Cultural Networking

Social software adoption has been driven by like-minded users that have similar intellectual and perhaps social interests. This is understandable and probably a natural evolution of any new innovation. I would, however, challenge the developers and institutional managers of social software to expand their thinking to include a new concept . . . Cultural Software for Cultural Networking. In the global context, the world is increasingly becoming a multi-cultural mosaic of learners. Celebrating the learning (and cultural experiences) derived from embracing differences is arguably just as valuable, perhaps even moreso, than the learning and knowledge created by like minded groups. Cultural networking will facilitate these connections and enhance multi-cultural understanding and knowledge essential to living and learning in a global world.Finally, is it possible that social software applications will ultimately have anegligible impact on the ‘measurable’ quality and depth of student learning? Indeed, perhaps social software applications simply make learning more fun and enjoyable and connect students with their peers through various social environments. It is often said in higher education, ‘of course it’s useful and practical, it just isn’t easy to measure,’ and in this respect social software may be no exception. The Observatory will lookforward to new research which attempts to answer suchquestions.Enjoy your read of Leslie and Landon’s report.